For Secretariat, Justify, American Pharoah and 10 other Triple Crown winners, the road to immortality ran through the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.

But an escalating legal and political fight could reroute the second leg of the Triple Crown, as soon as 2021, by ripping it away from the track where the Preakness debuted in 1873 and sending it 20 miles south to Laurel, Md.

That’s because Pimlico’s owner, the Canadian-based Stronach Group, has deemed the track to be in such disrepair that it has reached the end of its useful life as a major event venue. Stronach says it loses money operating two tracks in Maryland and prefers to consolidate racing at its Laurel Park facility, closer to Washington, D.C.

The company is pushing for a major state-aided overhaul at Laurel, fueling speculation it intends to close the 149-year-old Pimlico, the site of Seabiscuit’s famed 1938 upset of War Admiral in a match race that enthralled the nation.

The Scene at Pimlico

The second leg of the Triple Crown has been run in Baltimore at the race track nicknamed ‘Old Hilltop’

Portraits of jockeys hang outside the Pimlico Hall of Fame.

Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal

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Portraits of jockeys hang outside the Pimlico Hall of Fame.

Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal

That would deal a blow to Baltimore’s collective psyche. Already the intensifying dispute has further marred a rough year for horse racing that has featured a spate of unexplained horse deaths at California’s Santa Anita Park and a controversial disqualification at the Kentucky Derby.

Baltimore is fighting back. The city has sued Stronach, seeking power to seize Pimlico and the Preakness itself, in a bid to preserve the Northwest Baltimore track and keep the race from leaving town. Local officials and many residents say Pimlico is part of the city’s identity, and the Preakness gives the economy a multimillion-dollar jolt each spring.

“Baltimore has to do what they have to do to keep the Preakness in Baltimore,” Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said in an interview.

Belinda Stronach, chairman and president of the Stronach Group, said she understands the strong emotions. “We’re stuck in the middle of a lot of passion and politics at the moment,” she said.

While no decisions have been made about Pimlico, she said, Laurel can better handle year-round racing and would be far cheaper to overhaul. She said the company wants to help devise the best use for the 120-acre Pimlico site, which sits idle most of the year.

“We would like to work with city officials to have really constructive, progressive thinking about what could occur outside of a racing facility,” said Stronach, whose family has owned Pimlico and Laurel since 2002. The Stronach Group also owns Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park in Florida.

Asked if she sees the Preakness moving to Laurel, she said, “That is yet to be determined.”

Stronach owns the Preakness, but a state law requires the race be held at Pimlico barring “a disaster or emergency,” a call the Maryland Racing Commission, the track’s regulator, would have to make. City officials criticize Stronach for investing far more money at Laurel than at Pimlico, alleging in their lawsuit that the only disaster is one the Stronach Group is causing through neglect.

Stronach denies the claim and moved to dismiss the suit. “It’s almost unheard of for a city to seek to confiscate an ongoing business enterprise through an eminent-domain proceeding,” said
Alan Rifkin,
a lawyer for the Stronach-owned Maryland Jockey Club.

There is no dispute that Pimlico is in poor shape. Last month the track closed a 6,670-seat grandstand built over a century ago, citing structural concerns.

Horses and riders train in the morning at Pimlico.
Photo:
Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal

For some locals, the prospect of losing the Preakness stirs painful memories of the Baltimore Colts professional football team’s surprise move to Indianapolis in 1984. The city is also dealing with the fallout from Catherine Pugh’s resignation this month as mayor amid criminal investigations.

“To lose the Super Bowl of Baltimore would be devastating to civic pride,” said developer Marty Azola, who managed Pimlico’s facilities in the 1990s.

Baltimore has actually lost the Preakness before. After 1889, the race left its home track for two decades. For much of that time it was held at Gravesend on Coney Island, before returning to Pimlico for good in 1909.

The Preakness nets $4 million to $6 million each year, said Bill Hecht, who oversees U.S. real estate for the Stronach Group. And horse racing in the state is on the upswing, thanks to higher-dollar purses made possible by casino revenue.

Yet Stronach loses money overall on Maryland racing “primarily because we have antiquated facilities that are not conducive to be competitive in the entertainment business that we’re in,” Hecht said. “We have to get there as soon as possible.”

The Preakness annually draws more than 130,000 fans, who fill the stands, jam the party-like infield and parade through corporate tents in fancy hats. This year’s event will lack some luster because Kentucky Derby winner Country House won’t be racing due to health concerns, meaning there’s no chance for a Triple Crown.

Laurel is a much busier track, with 156 race days last year compared with 12 at Pimlico. Five years ago, Pimlico had 37 race days compared with 107 for Laurel. The Stronach Group submits race day requests to the racing commission for approval.

Laurel Park is itself nearly 100 years old, and Stronach officials propose an $80 million infusion to turn it into a high-end “super track,” financed partly with an existing stream of state funding for track improvements. The company suffered at least a temporary setback last month when state legislators failed to authorize a bond sale for the project.

City officials say Pimlico could be saved through a public-private rebuilding effort to make it a more active horse track, while adding new uses such as housing and retail to better serve the nearby low-income Park Heights neighborhood.

The weather vane at Pimlico is repainted each year with the colors of the Preakness winner.
Photo:
Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal

A key question is who would pay. A recent Maryland Stadium Authority report said it could cost at least $424 million to raze the complex and start over, though some city officials and others with racing experience think a far cheaper alternative exists. Young said the city is willing to sit down with company and state officials.

Racing fan Matt McSweeney, a 29-year-old heavy-equipment operator who lives north of Baltimore, said he sees the logic of shuttering Pimlico and focusing on Laurel.

“I’m sorry to say this, but the times have changed, it’s time to move on,” he said.

Glen Schorr said he’s attended the Preakness 29 times since moving to the Baltimore area in 1987 and hopes the race stays put. He acknowledged Pimlico is decaying but said “it’s been that way since I’ve been going.”

“There’s over 100 years of history there,” said Schorr, 59, who has a sports marketing firm, “and you just don’t walk away from it.”

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